Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Jack 'King' Kirby

*UPDATE*

NPR's Fresh Air has a great interview with Mark Evanier whose penned the new 'Kirby Art' book. Included is a great quote from Kirby in 1973 saying 'Pretty soon, Hollywood studios will be trolling our books for character and story ideas'.

Probably one of the most influential comic artists of all time, Kirby was responsible for not only creating the ultra patriotic comics of the 40-50's (Capt. America, Bucky, etc.) but for most of the existing Marvel roster. It's debated whether or not he was given his due, as, Stan Lee would tour and parade about his role of Marvel spokesman and creator.

I'd say he's one of the most influential comics/graphics artists ever, even though as a kid I can remember not liking his stuff at all. I was always a much bigger fan of the softer 'clear line' style that guys like Byrne and Herge were doing, which was very European. Kirbys stuff was bold and loud.
I've copped his style for a few projects, probably most notably the 'All Caps' video. It was much harder to try and get inside his head than I thought it'd be. Ultimately, the animation ended up looking like a second rate Kirby attempt. I've really come to love his 70's era stuff, where, it seemed like he was being influenced by the psychedelic style of art that was trickling into the popular culture.